Onward and Upward! How to live an uncommon life.

Carpe diem or Carpe per diem?

Regard it as just as desirable to build a chicken house as to build a cathedral. — Frank Lloyd Wright

Frank Lloyd Wright

A master builder, a rebel and a nature worshipper, Frank Lloyd Wright’s career spanned 70 years and resulted in the design of 1,141 buildings, including churches, schools, libraries, houses, bridges, museums and more. Though Wright is considered by many to be the greatest architect of the 20th century, he was also a prolific writer, an educator and a philosopher.

No matter what Wright involved himself in, he unabashedly gave it his all. As he mentioned above, he found it just as desirable to build a chicken house as to build a cathedral. I’m often perplexed by people who base the quality or the quantity of their effort on a value judgment about the task at hand. If they like to do it, they do it well. If they don’t like to do it, they skate. Why not give everything you do your best effort?

There is a mountain of difference between carpe diem (“seize the day”)and as Robin Williams quipped, “carpe per diem – seize the check.” Have you ever seen two people with exactly the same job have a completely different work experience?

If you see yourself as a powerless laborer working from paycheck to paycheck, then you are missing a tremendous opportunity, no matter how limited your scope of discretion. Even if your outer function is regulated to the point where no latitude is given for self-direction, you have the choice as to what is given weight in your heart and mind.

If you feel you are caught up in meaningless, menial tasks, lose that thought quickly. Everything matters. Fill the small rooms that you encounter in life with abundant living and you will be rewarded with joy and happiness. The cup you fill will run over; the physics are immutable.

What makes a building like a cathedral, a temple or a mosque something sacred? What makes a house a home? What makes a functional building, like a chicken house, a work of art? Questions worth answering, don’t you think?

Take the time in your day to fill each task – every phone call, every conversation, every action – with your finest expression. It doesn’t matter if the cup is half full or half empty, it’s how you fill it that matters.

This reminds me of a quote that has been a motto for many years…
If a task has once begun.
Never leave it till it’s done.
Be the labor great or small.
Do it well or not at all.
Thank you for bringing this to the forefront.

Great quote from FLW. What a noble, inspiring attitude! Fulfillment takes place on the inside first. Is the payoff from ‘carpe per diem’ vs. ‘carpe diem’ really worth it? The world is full of people who thought that being rich would bring them fulfillment only to find that their lives were still miserable. Find a new point of integrity from within, be consistent in applying ourselves from that point, and guess what? – we become self-empowered participants in the creative process of life no matter what we are doing. (And I’ll bet we’ll soon find the internal and even external payoffs to be much more substantial than we ever could have imagined).